Settling Into A Routine

For a couple weeks Evangeline was sleeping from 11pm until 6am. This was glorious for Kaia and I, but we wondered if she should be going to bed earlier. Evie Lu has taken matters into her own hands. She now calms down after a last feeding around 8:30pm. Last night she slept from 8pm until 4am, ate and then went back to sleep until 7am. I'll take that any day.

In a slightly frightening development I had a dream last night that I was sitting between two young girls who were fighting. Was this a premonition of another daughter? At least it was only two children. I had a dream while Kaia was pregnant of Evangeline getting mad because Kaia and I were paying all of our attention to the infant twins we had. Yikes. Maybe my sleep cycle needs shifting.

Baby Pattern Baldness

About a month ago our darling Evangeline discovered she could move her head and make a vigorous "no" motion as she was on her back. This is still one of her favorite things to do. I often pretend she's watching tennis.

The results of this discovery are seen in the pictures below. Not only does she have a nice bald spot in the center, but she has also worn a line near the crown of her head. Kaia protested greatly as I took these photos.

Where's her beautiful face you ask? I'll do a happy smiley post for Evie Lu later today.

Burping Is Hard Work

Doesn't our sweet daughter look like a little old man in these pictures? She doesn't know we are laughing at her now, but Evangeline makes the most ridiculous faces as she's working out the whole gas thing.

This is a busy week for all of us as we gear up for Easter on the 8th and Kaia continues her hard work in the lab. We'll keep you posted as we countdown to three months old!

Gifts For Everyone!

Thursday was Kaia's birthday and Evie Lu and I did our best to shower her with gifts. What do you get for the mother of your child and the love of your life? Bunny slippers of course! It was actually a difficult decision due to the variety of slippers Evangeline and I found as we were shopping. The monkey was cute, the pig was funny, and the ladybug slippers might have been the winner, but Evie Lu looked a little frightened of them.

Could you resist putting these on your feet?

(Dad, don't worry. I also bought jewelry and other good stuff.)

Kaia wasn't the only one to be on the receiving end of gifts. A package from Minnesota arrived on Thursday containing a gift from a friend in Coon Rapids. You gotta leave it to the Lutherans to create this onesie. The tag says 12 months, but since Evie Lu is already filling out 6 month clothing it will be no time before she'll proudly sport this one.

A nod to the Toddler Reformers?


Wait, how many Lutheran article of clothing does Evangeline have?

So, I Mentioned A Parrot

A few days ago I wrote about Evangeline discovering she has hands and how she grabbed a parrot without my help. Kaia told me after she read the post we should clarify Evie Lu is not grabbing real birds, but instead a stuffed, crinkly bird that hangs from her playmat. Still, I am amazed at how she is developing.



Evangelines latest adventures in sleep include going from 8pm to 3:30am last night and then 4am to 7am this morning. I hear sleepless parent horror stories everyday at the church and so I know we are blessed to have Evie Lu who sleeps so well. Although, Kaia heard from a co-worker yesterday his duaghter slept really well until she turned 5 months old and now they get no sleep.

Happy Birthday Kaia

Here are a couple of pictures of our little family from our dinner with friends on St. Patrick's day.

Evangeline has already given Kaia a gift this morning, but since it is Kaia's birthday I unwrapped it and made it go away.

Happy Birthday!

Look At That

Evangeline has recognized she has appendages. She has no idea what to do with these fingers yet, but she is exploring. I watched her yesterday grab firmly on to a parrot and pull down. I did not place the parrot in her hand. I was amazed.

Hey Lady, Keep Your Lips Off My Baby!

At the church I serve at we have communion every week. We serve communion by intinction, which means a piece of bread is broken for you and you then dip your bread either in a chalice of wine or grape juice. Anyone who does not take communion (generally small children) receives a blessing. This usually consists of marking the sign of the cross on the child's forehead and saying a brief blessing.
We ask for members of the congregation to come forward to help serve communion and they are then given the bread, wine, or grape juice and sent to a communion station.
Every week this happens.

Yesterday, I had a problem. As members of the congregation were coming forward to help, I handed a woman some of the bread and sent her to a station. It just so happened I sent her to the station where Kaia and Evie Lu were sitting. My beautiful wife walks to the front to receive communion and instead of a simple blessing and the sign of the cross for my daughter, this woman kisses Evangeline!

Pastor's kids have a reputation (generally well deserved) for being hellions and I wonder if part of it is because of incidents like this one. This woman does not really know me or my family, but because I am one of her pastors she thinks we have a deeper relationship which gives her greater liberty with my child. She didn't kiss any other kids and I guarantee other parents would not have stood for it if she did.

My microbiologist wife assured me the hoarse throat Evie Lu had last night could not have been the result of this woman, but I'm not so sure.

Go, Cobbers!

Hey, Auntie Kaitlin!



I want to know if it is OK if I wear this to your graduation. I've never been to a graduation before, and I'm not sure if I have the right attire. I would hate to get kicked out. Dad says it looks fine, but he always wears a T-shirt and jeans.

My social calendar is packed!

As Will mentioned yesterday, there hasn't been much time to post this week. Yesterday was no exception. We all went to a baby shower where another baby was getting all the presents and attention. (It's about time the spotlight was off of Evie for a while!) I even won a game prize of a Starbucks gift card (caffeine!!) for drawing the best baby picture, drawn with the paper on top of my head. If the whole microbiology thing falls apart, at least I know I can make it as an abstract artist. Last night we had some wonderful homemade Thai food with friends, including spending time with an older baby who I'm sure is more than happy to show Evie the ropes of how to be a good toddler someday. Today was church, of course, and we all enjoyed listening to Evie's dad rock out on the guitar. It was the first Sunday that she was actually awake during the service! Today's snapshot is of Evie in her Sunday best.

My Parents Are Slackers

Tomorrow Evangeline will be 11 weeks old. This amazes me. We have been a little hit and miss this week with the blog posts, but we promise to do better so that you can hear about all the things she is doing.

This week she really took cooing to the next level. Kaia mentioned the laughing and it is even getting more pronounced each day. Also her hands are becoming more familiar to her. She batted away at her purple elephant for quite a while. Was she trying to grab it? I'm not sure, but I am sure she meant to hit the elephant.

As you can see from the picture below, she really holds her head up high during belly time. When you hold Evie Lu to your shoulder she usually wants to look at you as opposed to just resting her head on you.


She is now consistently sleeping through the night. We are talking 11pm to 6am at least. She slept for nine hours one day this week. Everyone I talk to reminds me this is not normal and I should be lucky. Well, we do feel blessed and not just because Evie Lu sleeps like a champ. She's an all around sweetheart.

And I know I'm biased, but even when she's upset she melts me. Evangeline, what could be so horrible?

Mommy and Mukluks

It was a busy day for the Seattle Sappingtons today. It was the bishop's convocation for Evie and Will, and judging by the picture Will sent to my phone, Evie was enjoying herself (she was sleeping). It was early to the lab for me so I could be home just in time for Will to take off again for Thursday evening practices and meetings. At least we could all enjoy breakfast together, except for Evie who was a little impatient and ate earlier.

While Will and I ate our oatmeal, we heard new sounds coming from our daughter. I think they were the beginnings of laughter! I still don't know what was so funny, but her shriek certainly made Will and I laugh. I'm so thankful that she is learning to express herself, and even more thankful that those expressions are happy ones.

Evie and I went for a walk this afternoon, and since it was a little drizzly, it was a perfect opportunity to try out her new mukluks from Aunt Becky. Finally, some footwear that Evie can grow into! They did the trick and she stayed toasty the whole walk. She is staying awake more, and now we both enjoy the blooming cherry trees on our strolls around the neighborhood.

What Work Looks Like

So you might think having a ten week old come to the office with you would be distracting, but it turns out Evie Lu is not any more of an office distraction that anything we had happening previously. In fact Evangeline makes everything better at the office because she gets to do the things we all wish we could. Sleep through a meeting? Check! Eat whenever you want? Check!

Here is her domain in my office. You can see the webcam we use to keep Kaia and Grandpa Ralph in the loop.


The webcam is perched on the diaper changing ledge which was the scene of yesterday's fiasco.

Comedy Of Errors

Ah, that faint smell of pee in my office? This would be the result of one of the of the worst displays of diaper changing in modern history. Here is the rundown . . .

Evangeline ate like a champ and as she was finishing her bottle she successfully filled her diaper. She let me know she had accomplished this with an audible "whooomp" sound. I burped her and then moved to the changing of the diaper.

In my office I have a playpen for Evangeline and Kaia showed me a wonderful feature of this playpen, a ledge made especially for changing. I place my daughter in the changing ledge and find her diaper is not quite containing the abundance she has produced. This necessitates changing her little onesie and this is the moment we went completely off the rails.

I now have a, but for her diaper, naked baby and I attempt to quickly make the switch to the new diaper. It turns out I'm not quick enough and my baby begins kicking and peeing simultaneously. I do not have a diaper completely on her just yet so the changing ledge now has pee pooling in it around Evangeline. Sweet Evie Lu takes this moment to smile at me.

I eventually got my daughter clean, dry, and changed. Whew!

Fun In The Tub

Tomorrow morning brings early morning meetings for Evangeline and me, so this post will have to tide you over for a little while. And what could be cuter than bathtime?

Kaia gave Evie Lu a bath and I think they have too much fun. Can any serious baby cleaning be happening with a face like this?


I think my little girl is gorgeous in every way, and there are two things I hope she inherits from Kaia and I. I hope she has blue eyes like mine and curly hair like Kaia's. The picture below gives me hope on the hair front.

Monday Morning With Dad

So what do you do after a busy weekend? You lounge a little bit. Evie Lu was a complete chatterbox this morning. The hightlight was noticing she would respond after we said something. I told Evie Lu, "I love you" and she responded with, "oooo aaahhhoooo." There were a few times I could almost convince myself she was responding with "I love you, too."


We are not sure, but we think Evangeline has discovered her hands. Kaia asked me this morning when she would start grabbing things and althought I didn't know the answer a bit of panic hit me as I looked around our place and caught sight of all the things we do not want her to grab. Baby proofing will need to commence sooner rather than later.

10 Weeks Old And All Dressed Up

We apologize for not posting yesterday, but it was a busy couple of days. Between being a solo pastor for the weekend and officiating at a wedding there was not a lot of time. The big news is Evangeline went to her first wedding outside of her mom's womb.

She matched the wedding color scheme in her chocolate and pink outfit from Jillian. I have to say I get to hang out with the two most beautiful women. It is nice work if you can get it.

I Like To Spit Up

By nature of feeding her more than I do, Kaia wins the spit-up-upon prize hands down. That being said Evangeline Lucille knows how to pick her spots (and her spits). Twice yesterday she got me just as I was ready to head out the door.

Evie Lu is fourteen pounds of goodness, but it always amazes me the volume that can come out of our little girl. The picture above is from a morning spit up session. It doesn't seem to bother her at all does it?

Seriously, Call Me

Tonight my folks got hooked up with the webcam they gave us for Christmas and spent some quality time with Evie Lu TV. Aunt Megan has also enjoyed some quality programming with no violence, no bad words (no words at all actually), and very little nudity.

My mom and dad were also able to hear Evangeline talking a bit! She's making noise all the time now and it is adorable. It really is must see (and hear) tv.

Using My Immune System Hurts

Hey I've been vacinated, isn't that great?

I told you the whole shot giving ordeal only took seconds, but I spoke far too soon. Immediately following our appointment we took a trip to the drug store to buy baby tylenol and it was a good thing we did. Our sweet Evangeline was cooing and smiling and then . . .

It was like a switch was flipped. Sweetness and light turned to dark and cloudy as the ache and stiffness from the shots kicked in full force. I've never heard her scream like that before. I fed her and gently held my daughter until she finally settled into a fitful sleep. If I tried to move at all Evie Lu would cry out.

Kaia got home, gave her a dose of the tylenol and that worked wonders to calm her. The parish nurse warned me the next couple of nights might be rough, but at the moment she is sleeping peacefully.

It hurts my heart to see my little girl in so much pain.

A pre-enactment of this afternoon.

Evangeline Made It!

I'll cut to the chase and give you the stats right away. Our little Evangeline is now 14 pounds 1 ounce and she is 23.5 inches long. Wow. She is in the 97th percentile for weight and in the 50-75th percentile for length. In case you were wondering she is eating just fine.

The part of the check up I was most worried about was the series of vacinations. We waited quite a long time and Evangeline got fussy during her check-up, but the wait for the shots was a good thing because Evie Lu fell asleep. The nurse walked in, set up her tray of five needles, and in the span of ten to fifteen seconds it was all over but the crying.

Evangeline was not at all happy about the rude awakening. She recovered quickly enough and as I write this she is just cooing away as happy as can be.

The Shots Are Coming . . .

It is time for bed, but all I can think about are the shots Evie Lu will be given tomorrow. I know she'll be fine. I know she needs the shots. But still . . .

We'll give you a full update tomorrow.

Watch Me Drift

Is it possible to pick one favorite thing your daughter does? I don't think I can. She makes me laugh, she melts my heart, and she often brings a tear to my eye with how sweet she is.

One of her sweetest times is as she drifts to sleep. She calms down and you can feel her muscles relax. Her eyes get this sleepy, but determined look which lock onto your eyes. I usually rub the bridge of her nose and watch Evie Lu's eyelids droop.

It doesn't matter to me whether she sleeps for 5 minutes or 5 hours when I'm holding her like this. As long as I get to hold her, I'm happy.

Happy Monday!

Kaia took this picture yesterday and it gives you a glimpse of what we get on a daily basis. Our little Evangeline is cooing more and more and her smiles are no longer simply early warning signs of an upcoming diaper change.




We were a bit worried about her this weekend because she was sleeping so much. She slept for 7 hours overnight on both Friday and Saturday nights and took almost constant naps during the day. I wonder if she is going through another growth spurt. We are only two days away from Evie Lu's two month check up and I'm curious to see her official stats.

A Busy Day

There was a refrain sung at the church today and it had nothing to do with God. Kaia decided to go to the 10am service and that meant she was not at any of the other three services and that meant as I was shaking hands with people many of them asked, "So when are we going to see the baby?"

Seriously, you want to see little old me?
I tried to explain Kaia and Evangeline were going to different services each week (I did not tell the 8:30am folks their chances of seeing Evie Lu were as Grandpa Ralph would say, "Slim and none and Slim just left town.") and they would have their chance. The funny thing is when you have 200 people in a sanctuary, odds are you are not going to notice 13 pounds of Evangeline.

What? Not notice me? I'm adorable.

So, Kaia and Evangeline talked to a handful of people including a cadre of little old ladies. I get the feeling there will always be a few people asking why they haven't seen the baby because they always sit on one side of the church. (The one farthest away from the cry room and the bathrooms.) But you can't please everyone, right Evie Lu?

I don't know, I'm nine weeks old today and pretty talented.

That's Right, I'm Looking At You.

You have to be pretty sneaky to get by Evangeline. Her eyesight is getting better all the time and now she's learned the fine art of stealth. Just look at her.

In all seriousness we have been amazed the last 24 hours at what entertains our little girl. As Kaia said, Aunt Kathy sent us a really cool "Aquarium Take Along Swing" and Evangeline is nuts about it. It has eight swing speeds from gentle to kidapult and four lights that flash intermittently. The music with it is sort of new agey lullabye and reminds me a bit of the music during the lunch I had with Chris Davis at the Odyssey Cafe.

Here we thought Evie Lu would coo at us because she loves us and wants us to know about it, but she coos almost constantly when she is in the swing. And it lulls her to sleep! Now I'm hoping she slows down on the weight gaining because the chair only goes to 25 pounds. I want one of these for myself.

Oh yeah, and she's still looking at you.

Mom's first post!

Up to this point, you have been enjoying the witty posts of my partner in crime. Sadly, today you will have to endure my first, and probably less witty, post. My latest, favorite baby thing is talking to my daughter. They are no longer one-sided! Granted, she speaks from an alphabet made up entirely of vowels and the occational g or m. But it is magic when these sounds roll off her tongue. When they combine with smiles, it absolutely melts me. Yesterday, Evie got a package in the mail. It was a wonderful gift of a baby swing from Kathy. Will pieced it together, we set her in the swing, and watched. Immediately, she started cooing at the fish and sat mesmerized by the light show above. I thought her coos were for us, but I guess plastic fish can make excellent coversation.

Take Me Out To The Ballgame

Today saw a major milestone in Evangeline's life. She watched her first baseball game with me! I dressed Evie Lu up in her finest attire (if you look closely you can see her buttons are little baseballs) and we watched the Atlanta Braves beat the Pirates of Pittsburgh 5-4 in 10 innnings. Now it wasn't a Cubs game, but we all have to start somewhere. The real message I tried to communicate to my daughter is that we know spring is here because of baseball. Every team has a chance to win it all and hope is something you can almost hold in your hands.

As I gazed upon my daughter I realized she didn't exactly have the long and lean look of a centerfielder. I think she's looking more like a power hitting first baseperson. Kaia says the chair makes Evie Lu look rounder than she actually is, but she's still closer to John Kruk or Kent Hrbek than Ted Williams or Torii Hunter.

Go Cubs! Go Twins! Go Evie Lu!

Travelling With Mom

For the first six weeks of Evangeline's life the three of us were together all the time. It was wonderful. Now we have moved back into the working world and Kaia and I are doing the baby trade off. Yesterday that meant Kaia got home at 2:30 and I jetted out the door and headed to work.

I was only away from Evie Lu for eight hours, but I can speak for Kaia when I say it feels like being gone for an eternity. Evangeline is growing so fast I'm afraid of missing anything.

The pictures here feature the baby bunting my mom made. When we first saw the bunting it seemed huge, but no longer.

Why Won't You Work?

For some reason my internet access is spotty today, but it clearly didn't affect Evangeline. I asked her if it was the router or the server and her answer was a morning nap. Maybe that should be my answer too.

We are now counting down the days until Evie Lu's two month check up and the shots that come with it. I am not looking forward to all the poking and prodding.